Contemplation and Self-Awareness in the Nicomachean Ethics
Matthew D. Walker
Rhizai VII.2: 221-238 (2010)

"According to the view that appears in the Alcibiades, while we obtain a certain awareness of ourselves through contemplating other human souls, we complete our self-awareness (which the Alcibiades speaks of in terms of self-knowledge) in contemplating god." (WALKER-2010, p. 227)

"One can now begin to see how contemplating god could elicit a certain kind of self-awareness. The contemplator who exercises his 'most divine' capacity in accord with the virtue of sophia would have special *kinship* with god; after all, he would be attending to that 'most divine' of human activities and would be engaged in an activity *like* god's. The contemplator would also be exercising the capacity that was 'most of all' himself, a psychic power possessed by god in the most perfect way -- viz., as eternal activity. In contemplating god as fully manifesting the nous which is 'most of all' himself, then, the philosopher would be in the best position to be aware of, or recognize, that power which is 'most of all' himself." (WALKER-2010, p. 232)

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